i get sterotyped, but... in a different way. i dont look the "typical" american look.. (who knows what that is, big eyes? not real skinny? O.o) ever since 4th grade, people keep asking "are you asian??" "are you chinese/japanese??" still when i was in highschool too. then i simply replied.. "umm, no.." because im not ;

just a natural born (north) american. not a hint of asian in my blood lines at all..

doinkies wrote:
Just because some of Mukade's students believed those stereotypes doesn't mean that all other Japanese people do. Heck, there are plenty of people in the U.S. who go around spouting stereotypes about other countries and believing in them as well. Same goes with most other countries for that matter. doinkies has seen people say things like "All Japanese people are perverts!" or "All Japanese men are jerks!" or "All Japanese people are suicidal!" and other such doinky stereotypes many times.

I actually did a school project on stereotypes back when I was doing my study abroad. We did the project in groups of 3 students, and my group choose to interview Japanese people and find out what their stereotypes were concerning Americans (I had actually forgotten all about this - even after writing my first post!).

The three of us made a stack of flyers and interviewed about 80 people in all. The overwhelming majority of them said that their image of Americans included:

big houses
big cars
big steaks

A pretty fair majority also thought about:

guns
obesity

Many years later, when I would ask my students what their impressions of Americans were, they usually answered with the same five as those above.

Others answers that were fairly common were:

greedy/selfish
poor work ethic
good dancers (never could figure out where that one came from)
litigious (this one's certainly true)

Keep in mind that I've only bothered to write the ones that I've run across over and over again. I've edited out the more crackpot comments I've heard (like, "foreigners can't digest rice" :@ ).

So, no, not every Japanese person believes these stereotypes, but they are all certainly very common ones.

Last edited by Mukade on Thu 11.02.2006 2:39 am, edited 1 time in total.

My .o2 cents:
My heritage is a combination of Cherokee and Aruban. I was born and raised in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. I'm an artist, musician and I fix computers for a living. I don't listen to rap or rock. I like freeform jazz. I am slim, not skinny. Far from selfish, as far as I know. I use public transportation and guns scare me.

When I go to places where I am the only person in the room with the most melanin, people act strangely towards me. They try to talk to me using eubonics and I don't understand a single word. Or they try to not look at me, period.

African Americans act strangely towards me, especially when I open my mouth. Just because I speak in complete sentences, they tell me I'm trying to be "white" or that I date white men. I didn't think it really mattered who I'd date just because of my speech or even the way I dress.

Asian people look at me strangely, mockingly, or with disgust. Most even look down on me as if I'm some inferior being. Except for my last boyfriend and his family: Korean. Spanish people and the Cherokee are nicer to me. So are the Swiss.

All around when I tell people I'm a musician. The first question they ask is, "Is it R&B?" Followed by, "Is it Gospel". When respond with "electronica", some look very confused while others nod.

The one thing most agree on: they like the way I dance.
I don't like stereotypes.

"There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable.There is another theory which states that this has already happened."

TrilinguisT wrote:
indians arent asians? the last time i checked, they were and are ...

Depends on which Indians you are reffering to. Native Americans are also reffered to as Indians, commonly said to be due to a certain Italian explorer (working for Spain) thinking he had reached India when he sailed across the Atlantic.